Bára is a friend of ours whom we know as an incredibly strong, hard-working and loving mum. However, the last few years have been incredibly difficult for her. She has been fighting for a long time to be able to be close to her young son, whilst also facing serious legal and financial problems, and is now, on top of that, undergoing gruelling cancer treatment.

She now finds herself in a situation she can no longer cope with on her own. She is at risk of losing her home – a house linked to her family, her childhood and memories of her father, and one she had hoped to preserve for her son one day – due to enforcement proceedings brought by her ex-husband.

That is why we have decided to set up this fundraising campaign and ask for help on her behalf.

We’re asking you, if you can, to please help Bára keep her home, get through this difficult time and give her the chance to focus, above all, on what matters most – her health and being able to be a mum to her son again to the fullest.

Every donation, no matter how small, can make a huge difference to her. And if you’re unable to donate, sharing the fundraiser will also be a great help to us.

You can read Bára’s story below.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Bára’s friends

“If you’re familiar with the Seznam Zprávy podcast ‘Ve stínu’ (CZ mail news portal), you may already know our story.

I am the loving mum of a five-year-old boy. My ex-husband and I have been in court over our son for almost five years now. Although I looked after him on my own every day for the first two and a half years of his life, he is now in his father’s care and I am only allowed to see him for a very limited 40 hours a month – and I even have to pay for part of that time. He hasn’t slept at my house for over a year and eight months.

It all began when I raised serious concerns that my son might be being harmed by his father. At the time, I was acting as a mother who wanted to protect her child. These concerns were also confirmed by more than one psychologist and psychiatrist. To this day, the police have not clarified these suspicions and the case remains open. To date, no expert assessments have been commissioned regarding my son or us, his parents.

Our story was documented in detail by the Seznam Zprávy investigative team in a five-part series entitled ‘In the Shadows’, and the case has since reached the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

I fight like a lioness for every hour I get to spend with my son.

My greatest wish is to be close to my son again as his mum – to look after him, take him to nursery, read him bedtime stories, give him a hug when he’s sad, and be part of his everyday life. It is incredibly painful for me when I come across situations where children or parents at my son’s nursery or after-school club have no idea that I am his mum, and instead regard his father’s partner as his mum. Even more painful are the moments when my son comes home and tells me that he’s heard I’m going to die soon, but that his father’s girlfriend will be his mum…

Now, however, my story has entered another phase – one that is, for me, a matter of survival.

Since the breakdown of our marriage, I have repeatedly tried to reach an agreement with our son’s father. Unfortunately, he is unwilling to reach any agreement, and even after five years we have not managed to resolve our long-standing disputes. On the contrary, I am faced with more and more lawsuits and complaints…

On the basis of a final court ruling, our son’s father is now demanding one million crowns from me, plus legal costs. We lodged an appeal against this ruling with the Supreme Court and filed a constitutional complaint, but to no avail – in this unprecedented case, I am being denied access to a hearing before the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. The courts refused to hear the case, even though the submission was not manifestly unfounded or inadmissible. Next in line is, once again, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The judgement also includes an apology in the form of, amongst other things, a paid advertisement in the exact wording determined by the court at the father’s request, in which I am required to write things that do not, however, correspond to the truth or reality. Although I have sincerely apologised to our son’s father for the fact that he may have felt offended by my public statements, he has not accepted this apology and insists on my complying with the apology in the form determined by the court, which he is also enforcing through debt collection proceedings.

As a result, I am now facing several enforcement proceedings, which my son’s father initiated on the very first day the judgement became final, and which could lead to the forced sale of our house.

And that house means much more to me than just a property.

I inherited it at the age of fifteen following the sudden death of my father, who did not live to see it completed. My sister, who was 23 at the time, my mother and I were left to finish building it on our own. It is our home, a place connected to my family and my roots.

I wanted to preserve it one day for my son too – as a reminder of his ancestors and as a place where he would know he has a home and a secure foundation that no one can take away from him or lay claim to. That is why I set up a trust fund for him, of which he is the sole beneficiary. However, even this step did not end the dispute with his father; on the contrary, his father filed opposition proceedings against it, reported us to the economic crime police, and now we are at risk of losing our home.

What’s more, my seriously ill mother, who is nearly eighty, lives in the house. His father has also had her old-age pension seized. Losing the house would therefore not only mean the loss of my own home, but would also jeopardise her home at a time when she herself needs peace and security.

And just as I am dealing with this situation, I am also battling for my own health.

The constant, long-term stress and pain of losing a beloved child have taken their toll.

In May, I learnt that I have a very serious, aggressive form of cancer and must begin treatment immediately.

I am now on long-term sick leave, and my treatment prevents me from working to the extent that I did before. Yet all my life I have been used to providing for myself and my family through my own work – as a professional musician, teaching music to students and performing in concerts.

However, my treatment is set to continue for some time yet…

In the past, a fundraising campaign was organised to cover our legal fees so that my son and I could defend ourselves in ongoing court proceedings. It was precisely this fundraising campaign that, following a report, subsequently became the subject of further investigations by the police and the tax office. The matter has now been concluded, and both authorities agreed that the fundraising campaign was entirely above board. Nevertheless, my ex-husband has filed a lawsuit against me, claiming 1 million crowns. He alleges that I ‘enriched myself’ through the fundraising campaign and that I should therefore have no problem paying him this sum. However, the funds raised were used solely for legal assistance, and their use was repeatedly audited.

I thought I would manage to pay the sum to my son’s father, thereby putting an end to at least some of the disputes, but due to debt enforcement proceedings and my illness, I can no longer even officially borrow money from anywhere.

Today, however, the situation is different. I am not asking for help so that I can wage yet another endless battle.

I am asking for help so that we do not lose our home, so that I can continue my cancer treatment in peace, and so that one day I can live a normal life again and look after my beloved son. I do not want my son to grow up feeling that his mum has disappeared from his life. I want to be there for him. I want to get better and I want to do everything I can to ensure I can once again be a real part of his everyday life.

I never thought I’d have to ask for help from people I don’t even know. But today, I have no other choice.

I don’t want any more fighting, any more court cases, or any more pain. My greatest wish in life is to get better. To be here for my son. To be able to look after him normally, to watch him grow up. And to finally have some peace.

I want nothing more than the peace and tranquillity I deserve – for myself, for my son and for our family.

That is why I am asking for help today. Not so that I can carry on fighting, but so that I might have a chance to end this struggle as soon as possible and start living a normal life again.

I want to get better. I want to protect our home. And most of all, I want to be a mum again who can be there for her son.

I thank everyone who helps us from the bottom of my heart. And if you are unable to donate, simply sharing this fundraiser will help us too.”

Barbora